Resolved Full backup of "logs" folder on incremental backups

[uniauto]

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Full backup of "logs" folder on incremental backups

PRODUCT, VERSION, OPERATING SYSTEM, ARCHITECTURE

Plesk Obsidian 18.0.78#3, Debian 12.14

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

Incremental backups always include a full copy of the "logs" folder. Therefore, the size of the backups increases considerably for high-traffic sites.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

Configure incremental backups that include log files.

ACTUAL RESULT

When opening an incremental backup file, you can verify that the file "backups_logs_{date}.tzst" includes all the contents of the "logs" folder.

EXPECTED RESULT

Ensure that the "backups_logs_{date}.tzst" file only includes incremental changes.

ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

(DID NOT ANSWER QUESTION)

YOUR EXPECTATIONS FROM PLESK SERVICE TEAM

Confirm bug

 

[Sebahat.hadzhi]

Hi, @uniauto . Thank you for the report. I believe this is necessary for point of reference for the incremental backup chain to properly function, but I will consult with our team further about the downloadable backup copy and follow up as soon as I get an update.

 

[Sebahat.hadzhi]

@uniauto , this is indeed expected behavior of Plesk backups. Each incremental backup has the following structure:

backup_logs_<full_timestamp>_<incremental_timestamp>.tzst

where each incremental backup file is a self-contained snapshot relative to the full backup.

It is not a delta of just the changes since the previous incremental. Plesk's incremental backup works by comparing file modification times. Log files are always being written to, so Plesk always sees them as changed and always copies them in full. This means each incremental backup will contain a full copy of all log files at that point in time, not just the new log entries.

In case your concern is regarding the size of the increments, the recommended workaround is to exclude the logs with the “Exclude log files“ option in backup settings.